Inside of life
by exhaustion
Summary: Sakura was always the weak, smart girl. Because of these traits she is sent to the past, with two goals. To kill Madara and change everything she can. "Sakura has depended on other people so much that she feels like a parasite without a host". Time Travel
1. Chapter 1

Light footsteps could barely be heard and they soon came to a halt, only to be replaced by a knock at the door.

Four knocks. One—up, at the right. Two—up, at the left. Three—up in the middle. Four—down. It was a secret code, but nobody would've noticed the distinctive sounds unless they knew the code.

"Come in, Sakura," the voice sounded young, much younger than the speaker really was.

The door opened to reveal a sixteen year old kunoichi, by the name of Haruno Sakura, also known as 'Forehead Girl', or Tsunade Number Two.

"You called me, Tsunade-shishō. There are over thirty wounded people at my medical camp; you must understand that I should return as soon as possible." Dark circles under her green eyes

"I have grave news to tell you, Sakura."

The pink-haired's green eyes squinted. There were rare moments in life when her teacher was entirely serious and sober. Shadows covered Tsunade's face, making her—_for once—_older.

"If this is about Zetsu, I already sent Shizune every—,"

"It isn't. But, if you brought this up, you should know that you are no longer needed on any Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces."

"What—"

"You have been declared dead at 16:23, killed by four white Zetsu."

Sakura backed down and she ran for the door.

Locked.

Panic overwhelmed her, was this a genjutsu; had she been so stupid to be caught in one without noticing?

"Sakura, sit down," a hidden fury underlined her teacher's voice, and fearfully she tiptoed her way to the chair and sat down. She closed her eyes, welcoming the darkness as if it helped her escape from the reality. But it didn't. She could hear and feel her teacher and that made her …

Did Tsunade want to …

Taking a deep breath, the pinkette asked the single question that occupied her thoughts. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No. Nobody knows you are here. I myself have made a copy of your body that the Sensor Division will find in a few hours."

"Then, what is it?" Fear was evident in her eyes, voice, everything—the way she played with the hem of her dress, how balls of sweat fell down on her forehead. She was terrified. "Why am I declared dead? …why are you playing with my life?"

"We had been mistaken about the power of Madara's forces. Everybody underestimated him and we are about to pay a great price. I am afraid that not even Naruto, as strong as he is now, can beat him. And even if he can, he won't have the opportunity."

"But Naruto—," Sakura started, revolted by the thought that Naruto, The Kyubi Jinchuriki, wouldn't be able to kill Madara.

"—is going after Sasuke first, and nobody knows if he will get out alive."

There was a pause, and different scenarios played through her head and all ended with chaos.

"The reason I have called you is because I am giving you the highest ranked mission I have ever given to anyone."

"What? Tsunade-sama, what do you mean? I can't accept it! I am a chūnin, you have plenty of ANBU and I'm not—"

"I'm not asking you to complete this mission. This is a command from your Hokage. It is not a mission in which power matters, but intelligence. I have chosen you because you are weak. I can't and will not watch as my one and only student dies. If there is anything I can do, this is it."

And the Hokage wiped out a scroll and put it on her desk.

Big kanji words were written on it and it took Sakura a while to realize that _no, she wasn't misreading it, _it really did say 'time-travel'.

"Hokage-sama, I don't understand," she sincerely said, traces of fear still etched on her face.

"You are going to sign this scroll, in blood. It will take you in the past—I have no idea when, it could even be before the ninja were created, though I hope it wouldn't. Once in the past, you have two missions. One: stop Madara. It would be best if you would be transported into his youth, so you could kill him easily. If not, make him enemies that could kill him."

"And the second mission…?" the pinkette asked.

"Change everything you can. If you don't change anything, a Haruno Sakura will stand in front of me, terrified, waiting to be sent back in time."

Her bottom lip quivered. For the umpteenth time, she felt the urge to run away from everything, but this time it was stronger, like a little voice in her hear was screaming (_run, run, run, run_), like her heart was beating _run-run, run-run_, but a coherent part of her brain told her she couldn't.

_You have been declared dead_.

That's right; there was no life for her anymore.

Sakura didn't doubt that Tsunade would rather kill her than have the pinkette die by someone else's hands.

And death sounded better than going back in time.

"I'm sorry, shishō, but I—…I can't. Surely you must have someone else!"

The Hokage didn't react as bad as Sakura would've expected. Tsunade took a deep breath; _she knew that anger didn't solve anything with Sakura, whereas it solved everything with Naruto._

"Have you seen Naruto, Sakura? Have you looked into his eyes? Did you see that they're as blue as the sky on a spring day? He will die, and he will take Sasuke with him. Do you want to watch as his eyes close forever?"

She had always been the smart, weak girl. Naruto had always protected her.

A tear stumbled on Sakura's cheek. "No!"

"Then, by going back you will help him have a different and a happier future. Don't forget that it is because of that promise that Naruto still chases after Sasuke."

The pink-haired girl covered her eyes and she cried quietly, _she didn't want to do this_.

"I have faith in you, Sakura," Tsunade added and light brown eyes locked with green. Sakura had never seen such an ingenuous expression on her teacher' face and it made her want to cry. This is how Tsunade was before her brother's and her lover's death. This was the Tsunade that Shizune used to tell her stories about.

And this Tsunade was putting her last hope in Sakura.

"O—Okay," she croaked, her voice hoarse from crying. "I'll do it."

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p><strong>i<strong> _**n**_ s **i **_d_ **e**

_**o f**_

_l_ **i** **f** e

written by exhaustion

Chapter one.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>"I still have no idea of what should I do," Sakura said, sighing. "Will I be in my body?"<p>

"Of course not," Tsunade scoffed. "The scroll says that you'll take the body of a person that dies the day in which you are transported. Whereas it gives you the advantage of anonymity, there is a chance that the body will not have chakra cells, or that you will be reborn as a criminal!"

"What if I can't find Madara?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"Make powerful friends, fake your death and make them promise they'll kill Madara or find someone who can. I have no hopes that you alone will murder him, Sakura. Also, I have no doubt that my younger self will kill anyone who shares the same abilities as mine."

But what was Sakura supposed to do without the little power she had?

_Survive_.

Frightened and hesitant, she bit her finger and scribbled her name on the scroll.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>There will not be spoilers past Naruto Manga Chapter 545. Second chapter will be posted on 26th July.<p>

If there are any grammar mistakes please point them out, and do express your opinion.


	2. Chapter 2

For a moment, there was darkness.

Infinite abyss and she wasn't sure whether it was a brief second or an eternity. And she was _ever-so_ terrified.

It was that feeling of falling that scared her, because she didn't know if she was going to be alive when she'd meet the ground. Nobody warned her about any sort of complications. Sakura wasn't ready.

And suddenly, she wasn't falling that fast anymore. She was feeling. She was cold. She couldn't breathe.

She was underwater.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p><strong>i<strong> _**n**_ s **i**_d_ **e**

_**o f**_

_l_ **i** **f** e

written by exhaustion

Chapter two.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>She wriggled, bubbles full of air escaping her mouth.<p>

Dear God, Haruno Sakura was going to die.

_I have faith in you, Sakura._

… _faith in you …_

… _faith …_

No, she had to survive. For Tsunade, for Naruto … even for Sasuke.

The kunoichi twitched and took a swimming position, moving her hands and feet as fast as she could, desperate for a breath of air.

She writhed for what seemed like an eternity when her left hand brushed something solid. With both of her hands and her eyes wide open, she inspected the layer of solid that stopped her from surviving.

It was ice, she realized. The pond in which she was drowning was covered with ice, and she didn't know where the hole was. She knocked at it with both fists, using all the force she could muster at the moment, but the ice didn't break.

Water flooded her mouth and, but she despised the thought of dying before even trying to survive. Sakura couldn't die right now. It _just_ wasn't her time, yet.

She punched the ice, hard and her bone snapped, together with the ice.

Air filled her lungs and she gripped the ice with her hands, trying to lift herself up. Her whole body was freezing. Sakura brought her knees close to her chest and she crossed her arms in front of her, trying not to lose any more heat energy. Sakura had only minutes before she died of hypothermia.

With difficulty, she lifted her body on the ice, shivering. Her muscles were numb from the cold—how was she supposed to survive?

"H—…help … me," but nobody could've heard her.

_It is not a mission in which power matters, but intelligence._

That is right; she was supposed to use her brains to come up with a solution for this situation. A hundred of jutsu passed through her head, but she couldn't move her hands to form the hand signs, she was hopeless.

Weak as she had always been.

And the clock was ticking away _her _life, not some patient's or some friend's life—her life! And she wasn't ready to die. She wasn't supposed to die. This wasn't how her life should've turned up to be.

Ten years ago, she dreamed about having a husband that loved her and that treated her like a princess, an army of kids that she will name after flowers, a lazy cat and a big garden.

At sixteen, she had nothing of that and she had no possibilities of ever having—considering that she so close to dying.

There was no Naruto to save her now, was there?

She clenched her jaw, forcing her teeth to stay still. The water had frozen her clothes, her hair, and her whole body. Her skin was freezing, tearing apart.

All her medical knowledge helped her with nothing now.

With her breath ragged and not knowing whether she was going to ever wake up, her colours faded into black.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>She woke up with a start in a dark room, her body cold—<em>not unbearable as it had been before, though—<em> and her clothes wet, no longer frozen.

Her mouth was filled with a foul taste, putrid as if she had thrown up numerous times. The smell lingering in the room was no better; it smelled of death.

Without thinking twice, she attacked the door—_which was locked from the outside—_, kicked and screamed ("_Let me out_!"). Just as she was going to give up and find a new plan, footsteps were heard outside the room and the door was yanked open.

Two burly men roughly grabbed each a hand and dragged her into the narrow hallway. She didn't stop kicking or screaming.

There was a shiny object on the big-burly-man-number-one's forehead. It was a hitai-ate, but she didn't recognize the symbol. Five circles. Was it a star?

"—are you taking me? Let go of my hand! Please. You're hurting me! I will kick you!"

Later she would realise how pathetic she had acted, considering her low level of strength at this moment.

The muscular duo stopped in front of a door and big-burly-man-number-one let go of her hand only to tie them behind Sakura's back. The other opened the door and pushed her into the room, closing the door so she couldn't escape.

There was a man in the room, a_ cripple old jeezer_, as Naruto would've said. He was studying her and she averted her eyes to look at the room, intimidated. If this was a truly important man, the village must've been poor to have him stay into such a distasteful room. She was used to Tsunade's fancy office, with scrolls and paintings on walls, and a little fountain in the centre. The only thing ... _nice _in this room was a set of two swords hung on the wall.

"Usually, when people come here, they beg for freedom or mercy. So tell me child, are you strong or are you stupid?"

His voice lacked any foreign Japanese accent. It was gravelly, as if he hadn't drunk water in a long time, and it made her want to run away.

"Stupid it is, then," he declared. "What is your name, girl?"

A bubble of anger rose within her, and if she weren't rational, she might've hit the elder. But, there were two things stopping her; one, this was the man's (supposedly) village; two, she didn't have any weapon or skills.

"I don't have a name..." she lied. "They call me Number 601. Where ... where am I?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice.

"You are not in the position to ask questions. My subordinates", Sakura silently noted that, indeed, he was their leader, "found you almost frozen. Somebody went through a great deal to kill you, and I am curious as to know who."

"It was my shishō."

His eyebrows went high into his forehead, curiosity filling his eyes. "Oh?"

"I ... betrayed them."

"And...?" he inquired, probably dreading to know more.

"And nothing," Sakura said, her face straight. "I was drugged and thrown into that pond. Luckily, I awoke before I drowned."

Sakura was a kunoichi with many many weaknesses, and one of them was pretending. She never mastered the art of lying and for her safety everything she said had to be remotely close to the truth.

The old man asked questions after that, but received no pleasing answers. Whether part of Sakura's memory was missing or not, he couldn't know, after all, he had no Yamanaka to interrogate her.

She was sent back to the cell, her hands still tied up, the rope cutting in her wrists.

If earlier, too alarmed to have woken up in a unknown place, she didn't notice her clothes, now she did. She no longer wore the Allied Shinobi Forces' uniform—_the flak vest, the dark suit, they were gone_. Her hitai-ate was gone as well.

Even if she escaped this room, she couldn't leave without her headband, the only thing to remind her whom she really was.

_Number 601_. The last three digits of her Ninja Registration code.

She felt exhausted. There was no bed, just the slippery ground, and even so, she was too afraid to sleep.

No. Sakura had to escape, no matter what, and in order to do that, she had to rest.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>Rice and water given to her twice a day. It was brought by one of the burly ninja. But with her hands tied, the only thing she could do was to smash her head into the plate and try to get some food into her mouth, like a savage.<p>

She was sososo pathetic, wasn't she? Every person she used to know would have escaped by now. Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade, _Sasuke_, hell, even Hinata!

Tears slipped on her cheeks, she stumbled on her feet and fell on her knees, pain shooting through her body. Her right knee fell on the glass, little pieces of glass piercing her skin.

In the darkness, she could vaguely see the blood that stained the bigger shards. The shards...were cutting her skin.

That was it! The shards. The ropes. She could be free.

Sakura just needed one kickass plan ...

Patience was a virtue, someone once said.

However, in this kind of situation, too much patience means could also mean death. She couldn't live off rice and judging by the dizziness she felt whenever she got up, she didn't have much time on her hands before her body became completely useless.

What would Naruto say if he saw her now?

He wouldn't say anything, perhaps. He would just smile and save her.

He would say _don't worry, Sakura – chan_, perhaps. He would shed tears and save her.

But he isn't coming. Neither him, nor Kakashi, nor Tsunade, nor Shizune. There is nobody to save her but herself.

Sakura has depended on other people so much that she feels like a parasite without a host.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>She stands there. She always tells herself;<br>_say goodbye and forget them. _She does  
>her best, thinking of them one by one,<br>releasing them like birds from the protective cages  
>inside her, locking the doors against their return.<p>

But some she cannot let go.

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>I whole-heartdly apologize for the lateness of this chapter. If there are mistakes, please, do not hesitate to tell me, I will correct them right away.<p>

* * *

><p>o o o<p>

* * *

><p>Review: <em>It is an interesting concept but if Tsunade had the scroll to go back in time, why didn't she when Dan died? Or when her brother did? Also, Sakura isn't really weak anymore. As much as I hate to admit it, she has gotten really powerful under her training with Tsunade.<em>

Answer: Tsunade is the Hokage of Konoha, she puts the village on the first place, and her life on second. Saving Dan or Nawaki is not one of her top priorities and if she would have travelled back in time herself, who would take her place as Hokage? Tsunade is very much needed in the war, more so than Sakura. I have never said or implied that Sakura is weak or that she hasn't improved during her training with Tsunade, but I view Sakura as a girl with very poor self-esteem when it comes to her usefulness_, _therefore she thinks she is nothing more than weak.

(questions expressed through reviews will be allways answered)._  
><em>


End file.
